Darkness has started to settle in Masharas, the street lights doing a far better job than the moon and stars ever could to keep the city working. The factories still run, even if mostly automated systems, the markets are empty but the bars and cafés in the same streets are busy with people winding down from a day of workAnd in this gentle translation of dusk to night you find yourselves recalled. To each one of you a messenger has been dispatched, for you to meet back up. It appears your assignment goes unfinishedAmal still manages to show up on the early side, somehow.Harriet is really displeased at getting interrupted in her workshop when she's in the middle of something, but she begrudgingly puts on her gear and trudges back out to meet up with everyone anyway.Serenity‘ doesn’t seem particularly thrilled either as she makes her way past the garden and into the great hall.The meeting room is not quiet how you left it. Though Cor Caroli still graces it with her presence she's changed into a lighter outfit, she is at the table looking over papers worriedly. At the far end of the room you see Pope Aldiva, who sits at the sofas near the bookshelves, books all around her open, copious pages of notes that make you feel as if she would drown in paper at any moment. Beside her a cup of coffee of such kind that merely staring at it makes you wince at it's bitter flavor
Serenity: "What."Anton makes his way into the room before glancing at Cor. "So, what'd we miss?"Harriet decides immediately that she wants a cup of that stuff, because it's just about strong enough for her.Cor Caroli looks at you as you arrive "Hughbert won't be with us right now. This is a bit of an emergency" she puts the papers down "Seems like the Akavir plan you found out wasn't stopped, it was just about nearing completion, as in, it is scheduled to happen tonight"
Harriet: "Of course it had to be tonight," Harriet grumbles to herself.Anton scratches his head. "Ah, geeze. Maybe I should have looked at those plans a bit closer. I was so caught up with catching that guy."
Serenity: "I… didn't we confiscate their canon…?"
Cor Caroli: "Hrm… Had Hughbert had a chance to look at the information you found before returning, i'm certain you'd have found this out earlier. But danger I could not identify was, apparently, a war machine, a specialized tank called Crescendo that, from the looks of things, achieved a feat of engineering we have yet ot be able to replicate… To climb the Divine Aegis"
Cor Caroli: "And bring with it a large-scale siege cannon, position itself at a hard to reach vantage position and rain shells undisturbed on the Bloodworks."
Cor Caroli: "No, the arts cannon is an anti-personnel weapon, good at dealing with a tight formation of soldiers, not for sieges. The Crescendo, on the other hand, is. And I need you to stop it"Serenity‘ rubs at her face.
Amal: "I’d… like to know how they got it up there. That's impressive."
Harriet: "Ugh. Okay, fine. But I get to go over the tank afterwards."Anton glances at his watch. "Gonna be cutting this a bit close, Cor."
Cor Caroli: "Unfortunately, as far as I could see you are the only ones who would survive the ordeal." she nods at Harriet "Of course, i'd love to have that climbing system reverse-engineered"
Cor Caroli: "I don't like it either, Anton" she sighs "So, here" she hands over a map "This map should guide you to where it should be, the path up the mountain is treacherous but, since you're here, i've alraedy spoken with the Major about getting some support team for you"Anton stares at the map on the table before realizing that Hughbert wasn't here. He picks it up. "Hmm-hmm-hmm. We going up by cable car again?"
Cor Caroli: "Unfortunately whoevre I send with you won't return if you engage the tank, so they'll have to double back before that, so it's your choice, a team with rescue gear for terrain shaping or a team with transportation force gear to get there faster. You'll ride the cable car in emergency mode, strap in, it's faster than you think it is"
Cor Caroli: "Me and Hughbert will be here organizing an attempt to, if necessary, snipe any stray shells out of the air with our own defensive artillery… Not going to be easy"
Anton: "Oh, man? Emergency mode? I haven't done that for a while. Hope you guys don't get motion sickness!" He gives a smile to the rest of the group.Amal doesn't look -as- worried as one might expect them to. "Arrow-catching's harder than smashing the bow before it can fire, yeah. We'd better hurry."
Serenity: "I mean… if they're not going with us we probably want to get there as fast as possible…?"Cor_Caroli nods, pulls out a piece of paper from a draw and signs it "Here, show this at the garrison here, you'll get your team and someone to get you in the cable car"
Cor Caroli: "That's it, go as soon as you're ready"Anton nods before making his way to the door. "Let it go on the record though that I'm sleeping in tomorrow."
Amal: "I suspect we'll have more than earned it~." They follow Anton out!
Harriet: "Right, time to go burn the midnight oil." Harriet trudges out.Cor Caroli shakes her head "Don't tempt me, Anton. If I can wake up Her Holiness after a crash I can wake you up" she looks at Amal "But I won't"Serenity‘ trails after the others while grumbling under her breath.Anton glances back at Serenity before waving a finger at her. "Tut-tut. Is it not true that good fortune come to those who favor those around them with a smile~? Let’s make the best of this adventure!"
Amal: "I think it's okay to be a -little- grouchy and dire about this, Anton..!"Passing over to the garrison it's easy to get an assistance team. The two of them are a little petite for their age, hair a dark red almost seems black and faces a near mirror of eachother, nly way to separate one from the other is that one has her long hair in two braids while the other's hair runs wild and free. The twins are already geared out, the force gear is simple, a battery assembly as a backpack and a belt with various purple-colored tubes running with ragnite. Each belt has two wires coming out of it that end in handles. "Hey there, cuties. I'm Lilac" says the one with no braids
Serenity: "I don't think that's… a real saying, Anton."The other one stares at her sister "Li, stop wasting time, we gotta go! And stop flirting!" she half-nods-half-bows to the party "I-i'm Violet. Anyway, I got the cable car's key right here, we'll tell you how the warp system goes once we board, is that okay with you?"Anton gives the twins a peace signed salute(wave?). "Thanks for coming out this late, girls."Anton glances back at Serenity before grinning. "Doesn't make it any less true, though."Violet just smiles "It's just part of the job"
Harriet: "Wow, those gears are serious business," Harriet exclaims, making sure to get in close to examine the assembly.Serenity‘ turns her head towards Anton, gives him a smile. Almost seems natural! Doesn’t last for more then two seconds before she turns back to the twins. "Anyway, lets get to it."Lilac nods- She grabs Serenity's hand before running off. Violet slaps her hand off with a "No antics, this is a crysis! Be serious for once!" . You still quite quickly get to the cable car station. Lilac takes the key and goes over to the front while Violet helps you secure yourselves in, you did not know there were this many belts in here before "Okay sorry about that. Here's how it's going to work. It takes about a minute for each long range jump, you will need to hold the handles connected to the force gear to be brought along. Stay within two and a half meters of your partner as well"Lilac sits down and starts getting herself ready, as does Violet "Okay we're going to be departing in sixty seconds" says the gentler of the two girls "Any questions?"Anton stage whispers during the explanation. "(Don't let go. Seriously.)"Serenity‘ is a little surprised at being drug off, but just goes with it since they’re in hurry. "Hook up, don't let go. Seems simply enough." And she does so.
Harriet: "Yeah, can I swing by and examine this later?" Harriet hooks up and latches on.
Violet: "Sister!" she sighs "Uhn, if you stop by R&D maybe they'll let you"
Harriet: "Sweet."
Anton: "Good thing you met the 'be this tall to ride' requirement, huh Amal?" He laughs.Within a moment, the cable car departs… The acceleration is… Immense. Just departing is how you imagine it'd feel t be run over by it almost instantly hitting over a hundred kilometers an hour, and it just gets faster. The tracks scream of the metal-on-metal tension of the car on the rail. There is the glow of ragnite in the walls of the car for a moment and then it just stops with the same suddenness of hitting a brick wall, a wave of force from the car's force gear keeping you in place
JayM: Travel that would take over an hour done in the matter of a minute and a half, the tracks are white hot, smoke coming out of the car's wheelsAmal actually does chuckle a little bit at Amal's comment and then- well, they don't let go. Wow there's NO way any of that was safe.
JayM: It's an emergency system not a safety system!
Serenity: "Holy fucking - gah!"
Anton: "Man, that went a LOT better this time. I don't even feel sick!"
Serenity: "Someone needs to invest in a better shock absorbance system."Harriet has trouble letting go of her grip even after they're done. "Holy shit. That was awesome."
Harriet: "Let's never ever do it again."The twins themselves are dazed, but are quick to release themselves from the belts and help you out. You can see from their movement they haven't regained their sense of direction yet but are still quite able "Y-you get used to it at some point"
Violet: "I'm not so sure, sis…"Still, once you're all out you're given a while to regain your senses "Okay, ready when you are. It should take five jumps, we can even attempt to give you a vantage position"
Serenity: "…Five?"Anton glances at Harriet observing her reaction as she no doubt realizes we have to do this another four times.
Harriet: "I'm ready, let's do this thing." Harriet is so not ready, but she'll take one for the team.Serenity‘ exhales slowly, then ties up her hair in a bun. Definitely don’t want that flying all over the place again.
Amal: "Haha, so, about that 'let's never do that again.'"
Violet: "Don't worry, spatial jumps are a lot smoother… If you land on an horizontal surface"
Harriet: "We all have to make sacrifices. Especially me."Violet gives Serenity and Amal a handle each, Lilac looks at her sister with a pleading face, then hands her handles to Harriet and Anton "Okay, get ready"Anton glances at the girls. "So why can't you put this kind of engine in my boots?"And there is a feeling of tension in your body, like you're being pulled inwards- And you feel like you're sliding off a kiddie slide- And you land on your feet a good distance up, already at the base of the Aegis "It's pretty big actually"
Serenity: "Wait did we just warp?"Serenity‘ glances around, blinking.
Harriet: "Yeah, I think we did."
Harriet: "This is so cool."
Serenity: "Huh."
Serenity: "That’s a lot different from making other things warp."Amal mutters under their breath and looks spooked.
Violet: "Sister! Anyway, yeah, warping is easy but, uhn, it can mess with your sense of direction"
Violet: "Okay, next jump. It's going to be a sloped surface, be careful"Anton glances over at Amal before smiling. "Don't worry. If you slip off the mountain here I'll be sure to catch ya!"The same feeling… Smooth as it was the ground is uneven, you feel a chilly breeze, you're a good deal up the mountain. The third warp goes the same, but you wind up in a very small plateau that doesn't affords a lot of space to move, the cold breeze makes you shiver
Lilac: "Okay all honesty, I hate this part" she looks downAmal Actually Blushes. (Slightly.)A light rumbling noise from the distance…
Harriet: "Ohh my goddess it's freezing up here," Harriet grumbles.Serenity‘ actually looks pretty interested in the entire ordeal, honestly. "So does this work with relay points or are you manually caculating the distances out in your head for each jump or -"
Anton: "I know it’s a bit late to ask, but… have any of you actually fought a tank before? We might have to do that if it has close range weaponry."
Amal: "…it's not easy."
Lilac: "We have pre-calculated relay points for this mission. Normally we try to keep to jumps in visual distance or rely on a spotter for information"
Harriet: "I mean, I once built a theoretical tank gun improvement because I saw the current designs and they pissed me off. Does that count?"
Serenity: "Define 'fought'."
Anton: "Attempted to destroy it."
Serenity: "Then, yes!"
Serenity: "Cavet."They're quick to get the fourth warp in… And the rumbling seems closer… Above? You're with your backs against a sharp cliff, almost piled on top of eachother as there is literally no flat surface, you're basically stuck in a wedge. But facing upwards as you are you get a chance to see it, climbing a sheer vertical cliff… A giant beast of a machine, it's threads with spikes that drive deep into the rock to make it climb, a flamethrower facing from the back port and a giant cannon with a folding barrel. But it's main driving force is in front of it, the cables seem surprisingly thin for being able to handle the weight of the hulking beast.
Harriet: "That is *so cool.*"Anton whistles. "Yup. It's got a flamethrower. At least we won't freeze to death~"
Amal: "(…wow…)"Serenity‘ scrunches up her face. "Very noisey."
Serenity: "Holy shit it’s even louder than the grainery machine."At the distance you see two kinda humanoid figures, too far to make them out too well. But Anton might be familiar with the method one of them uses to get around, they are carrying a large spike in their hands. They get up to the other person, who's holding on to dear life at an edge. The two of them get a spike in place and there is a large explosive sound and the spike drives deep in the rock. The second person teleports down to remove the closest spike to the tank. Together they keep moving the spikes up in pairs as the tank drags itself up
Serenity: "Ugh."
Serenity: "No this is too dumb to live, it needs to die."
Violet: "I see a good position above them, there's a separate slab of rock it's about to climb into, it's a bit unstable but if the tank's on it it should give good footing. How about there?"
Anton: "Two on the outside, one operator currently inside the tank. They're doing a once in a lifetime gamble here. So long as we can get in the way their operation is fated to fail."
Serenity: "Fine by me. Shooting down's a lot easier than shooting up."
Harriet: "Sounds good to me."The twins look at eachother "Alright, get ready" and the feeling of warp… The ground you land on moves for a moment… Just as the tank reaches it so does you, everyone is unsteady for just a second
Harriet: "Whoa!" Harriet staggers into Amal and grabs their arm with her other hand to steady herself.And then you are faced with the tank, looking in front as it does in the back. One of the two operators outside warps back in front "Wait, what? How'd you get here?" the other one flies in, hovering for a moent before landing on top of the tank "Wait, where'd you come from?"
Serenity: "Magic."
Harriet: "We got here using science," Harriet says. "And I'm here to steal your tank. It'll be better for you if you hand it over quietly."Amal plants their feet - and feels weirdly insubstantial for a split second but maybe it's just the chaos of the moment, everything's fine now - they give the operators a cheesy grin. "Sorry to ruin your fun~!"Serenity‘ swings her rifle around into her hands and prepares to fire.The first operator steps back as the tank fires a spread of flames ahead, a metallized voice from inside "Look alive, you two, they’re here to stop us, take them down!"
JayM: It's a fantastic battle, a fateful battle, atop the highest point ever reached in the Divine Aegis!
JayM: Here and now you face: Climber Tank Crescendo!Anton reaches for his crossbow before smiling at the soldiers. "Kind of curious, how much are they paying you to do that teleport explode the rock thing all the way up?"
JayM: Battle order: Serenity [B]:0 Amal [B]:1 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:2 Harriet [B]:3 Anton [B]:3 Climber Green [F]:6 Climber Purple [F]:7
JayM: Serenity!
JayM: https://youtu.be/-5koepEEiYU <- Have a theme, btw. The Theme Of A WarmachineSerenity‘ exhales a bit, then pulls the trigger on her gun. Nothing of note happens. [Ineertia Canceller 50D] [In 40D]
JayM: Amal!
JayM: Btw Climber Green is the one with flight and Climber Purple with the teleportAmal begins charging! They’re not even bothering to pretend that they're using their staff this time. [CT 10]The man in the purple force gear draws a rifle and points it at Anton "You do not know the reward given to those loyal"
Anton: "That is in fact why I'm asking!"The Crescendo aims it's front flamethrower at the party "Do not get list in banter, pay attention!" and it starts charging it's [Ragnafire Spitter]
JayM: Battle order: Harriet [B]:0 Anton [B]:0 Climber Green [F]:3 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:4 Climber Purple [F]:4 Amal [B]:8 Serenity [B]:47
JayM: Status for Climber Green [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Status for Climber Purple [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Status for Climber Tank Crescendo [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Harriet!
Serenity: "You're real good at making friends, Anton."
Climber Green: "Hah! Like those guys are a problem against a tank. Wouldn't be bad to shoot the shit while we can"Climber Green also has a rifle
JayM: Battle order: Harriet [B]:0 Anton [B]:0 Climber Green [F]:3 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:4 Climber Purple [F]:4 Amal [B]:8 Inertia Canceller:33 Serenity [B]:47
JayM: There nowHarriet pulls her goggles down and picks up her Electricity Conduction Cannon by the handles. She flicks a few switches, and the chamber spins up violently, shaking so much that it almost seems like it's going to spin off of its supports. "Come on, baby," she encourages it, aiming it straight at Climber Purple as the lightning releases! [Jolt, spending 1 luck to bring it down to 0 CT, 25D]Anton nods to Serenity. "I can't help it if they all want to follow my brilliant display of character!"Harriet rolled 1d12+180 and got 12 ( Total: 192.0 ) for he gets reduced to 0D
JayM: Now ain't that a hit
JayM: Anton!Serenity‘ nods towards Purple Climber as the lighting explodes a second time. [Assist]Serenity` rolled d12+180 and got 12 ( Total: 192 ) for MP BoostedAnton glances at the enemies again before snapping his fingers. "Lucky for them, I have a lot of me to go around!" [Shadow Army - 70D | 20/30/40] Clones of himself fill the front row.
Serenity: "Okay."
Serenity: "I’ll admit, that one made me smirk a little."
JayM: Battle order: Climber Purple [F]:0 Climber Green [F]:3 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:4 Amal [B]:8 S-Anton A [F]:20 Harriet [B]:25 S-Anton B [F]:30 Inertia Canceller:33 S-Anton C [F]:40 Serenity [B]:47 Anton [B]:70
JayM: Status for Climber Green [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Status for Climber Purple [F]: : [====== ]
JayM: Status for Climber Tank Crescendo [F]: : [==========]Climber Purple looks at what Anton does "Hey, it's what the guy does"The tank pilot answers "Dammit, take those things down quick"
Serenity: "'the guy'…?"Purple respons by taking a shot at S-Anton A, poofing it, Green does the same at S-Anton BJayM rolled 2d100 and got 36, 94 ( Total: 130 ) for Actually accuracy
JayM: Second shadow dodges that, though
Anton: "Based on their reaction, I want to say the flamethrower can't reach us now."
Harriet: "Good job, Anton. … it's Anton, right? Please tell me it's Anton or all my practicing is going to have been for nothing."The flamethrower swivels at the second shadow again, and fires a stream of deep blue fire! Then the main cannon lowers and aims at Anton "Clear way!" the driver shouts, and the cannon remains trained on him [Target Alignment]Anton is under Directed Hit(2): Take +50% from the next Crescendo attack and condition dissipates when you get hit
JayM: Unfortunately, the shadow cannot dodge this flamethrower
[OOC] Anton: HP:[600[[/span]/600, MP: 490/550, LP: 2/7, SoS: 150 - Directed Hit[+50% Cres.] (2)
JayM: Battle order: Amal [B]:0 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:11 Harriet [B]:17 Inertia Canceller:25 S-Anton C [F]:32 Serenity [B]:39 Climber Purple [F]:52 Climber Green [F]:55 Anton [B]:62
JayM: Status for Climber Green [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Status for Climber Purple [F]: : [====== ]
JayM: Status for Climber Tank Crescendo [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Amal!Amal narrows his eyes and throws solid nets of light at Climber Purple! [Chorus D25]Amal rolled d12+99 and got 12 ( Total: 111 ) for Shining I (4) - next attack deals +20%Anton gives a thumbs up to Harriet. "Got it in one~."
Harriet: "Oh thank fuck." Harriet thumbs-up back.The tank driver shouts "Make path, charging Maximum Buster!" the cannon's barrel glows for a moment as you can see the rifling inside is lined with ragnite tubes. It fires a shell directly at Anton with so much force the entire stone slab you're in shakes, destabilizing the Crescendo badly [Maximum Buster]JayM rolled 1d100 and got 35 ( Total: 35 ) for 80
Anton: "Do one of you lovely ladies want to take a laser for a hero?"
Serenity: "Not especially."The shell misses Anton badly- The sheer heat of the shell's path and explosive force of the overheated air strike him with the force of dynamiteAmal suddenly is -there- where previously he was -here-. [GA]
[OOC] Amal: *they were, god damn it FIXME
[OOC] Anton: You missed with a 35? Huh.Amal stands in the way- But trying to shield him from the impact only got him even closer to the actual shell, making it even worseJayM rolled 1d12+450,130 and got 7 ( Total: 594.1 )
JayM: Amal takes 594 physical damage!
[OOC] JayM: Nobody could survive a direct tank shell impact! Even a miss is deadly!
[OOC] Anton: What's the +30% from?
[OOC] Anton: I know I was taking +50% from Directed Hit but
Harriet: "Just get out of the - holy shit!" Harriet exclaims, throwing up her hands to shield herself from the blast.
JayM: -20% from row, +50% from [Anti-armor Shell - Extra damage to Guard Assist]
JayM: Battle order: Harriet [B]:0 Amal [B]:8 Inertia Canceller:8 S-Anton C [F]:15 Serenity [B]:22 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:34 Climber Purple [F]:35 Climber Green [F]:38 Anton [B]:45
JayM: Status for Climber Green [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Status for Climber Purple [F]: : [==== ] Shining I(4)
JayM: Status for Climber Tank Crescendo [F]: : [==========] Unbalanced(1)
JayM: Harriet!Amal stands. Their. Ground. [-3 LP]
[OOC] Amal: -30%, so, 457 damage
[OOC] JayM: YesHarriet lets her ECC hang down at her side so she can pick up her special ragnite calotype, aiming it at the tank and snapping a picture. "Okay you are not allowed to have secrets any more."
JayM: Aren't you resilient Amal?
[OOC] Amal: HP: 93/550, [TMP: 20] MP: 550/550, LP: 5/9, SoS: 137
[OOC] Harriet: 30D!Anton pats Amal on the head. "Thanks, buddy!"
JayM: Climber Tank Crescendo [Crescendo] - L3 Boss - HP: 3200/3200, MP: 6/8, LP: 6/6 - An armored vehicle designed to move through any terrain as long as it has the right movement parts, it uses an unstable ragnite-fueled flamethrower and specially charged shells from it's main cannon [Anti-armor Shell - Extra damage to Guard Assist] [Special Reserves - Stronger at low health] [Fine-tuned Engine - Continually recover MP/LP]Amal immediately sinks to both knees, letting out… it's… it sure is some kind of sound. It'll be hard for Serenity to get any more of their blood, because most of the wounds instantly cauterised.
JayM: Amal!Serenity‘ grimaces a bit. Not… exactly used to seeing weapons being tested on people.Amal immediately starts charging curative magic. [CT 15]
Harriet: "Okay, so, like - this thing does more damage if you throw yourself in front of an attack, and it gets stronger the more it gets damaged, and it’s not going to run out of steam any time soon because its engine is really fine-tuned. We're talking 'basically regenerates its energy' levels here. Apparently its flamethrower is unstable, though, make a note of that."
Serenity: "Huh? Oh - uh - right."
JayM: Inertia Canceller goes off!The air around the tank distorts, and dark silver and grey tendrils of energy errupt throughout the tank, causing it to rust prematures. Serenity's closes her eyes as the light starts to fade - which then intensivies and washes over Amal and repairs some of his wounds.Serenity‘ rolled d12+180 and got 7 ( Total: 187 ) for time damage +5D Delay
[OOC] Serenity: Amal Recovers 90 HP
Amal: "Th- thank you." Enough of a voice to croak that out, now.
JayM: S-Anton C still lives!S-Anton C fires a bolt at Climber Purple.
JayM: Anton deal some damageAnton rolled 1d100 and got 60 ( Total: 60 ) for 80
JayM: A nice hit
[OOC] Amal: +20% damage!
[OOC] Anton: On my 0.5x pow hit OKAnton rolled d10*1.2+90*1.2 and got 9 ( Total: 118.8 )
Tank Pilot: "Doesn’t even needs to hit"Anton shimmers as the final image fades. [+70 THP]
[OOC] Anton: [THP: 70] HP:[600[[/span]/600, MP: 490/550, LP: 2/7, SoS: 150 - Directed Hit[+50% Cres.] (1)
[OOC] Amal: I mean, it's "next hit", so
[OOC] Anton: Yup.
JayM: Battle order: Serenity [B]:0 Amal [B]:1 Harriet [B]:8 Climber Purple [F]:13 Climber Green [F]:16 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:17 Anton [B]:23
JayM: Status for Climber Green [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Status for Climber Purple [F]: : [=== ]
JayM: Status for Climber Tank Crescendo [F]: : [==========] Unbalanced(1)
JayM: Serenity!Serenity‘ shakes her head before pulling the trigger to no effect once again. [50D] [Sniper Beam in 60D]
JayM: Amal!Amal finishes gathering chatoyant light, and then plunges their own shining hand into their own chest; it illuminates them from the inside, their flesh momentarily translucent, opalescent. The light spreads; a rainbow-coloured chrysanthemum blooms out of the hollow of their charred left eye. Leaves cover their face and charred skin, and they stand, whole, and shake the excess matter off,Amal withered vines falling from the sleeve of their robe. [Cure D35]Amal rolled d12+180 and got 1 ( Total: 181 )
Serenity: "I -"
[OOC] Amal: HP:[364[[/span]/550, MP: 510/550, LP: 5/9, SoS: 137
Serenity: "Ng -"
Serenity: "NOPE!"
Harriet: "That’s pretty cool," Harriet remarks.
JayM: So cool it was, Harriet, you can act now
Serenity: "At least TRY and PRETEND to be human!"Climber Green looks at that "W-what is… The hell"Harriet picks up her cannon again, spinning it up and just staring at Climber Purple from behind her goggles with a terrible grin on her face. [Jolt - 5CT]
Climber Purple: "Goddess above, what is that thing"
JayM: And you get to act right again, HArrietAmal blinks away the petals of the chrysanthemum. "You should never have come here."Harriet spins up her cannon, and an arc of lightning jumps towards Climber Purple! [25D]Harriet rolled 1d12+180 and got 4 ( Total: 184.0 ) for delay reduced to 0 for all the good that does them
JayM: Exactly none, it has 0 delay already
Harriet: "That thing is our friend! We're still kind of figuring out the details but I'm sure he'll - wait are you a he or a she anyway - anyway Amal's gonna be a great advancement to science and knowledge and shit."
JayM: Battle order: Climber Purple [F]:0 Climber Green [F]:3 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:4 Anton [B]:10 Amal [B]:23 Harriet [B]:25 Serenity [B]:37 Sniper Beam:47
JayM: Status for Climber Green [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Status for Climber Purple [F]: : [= ]
JayM: Status for Climber Tank Crescendo [F]: : [==========] Unbalanced(1)Climber Purple is visibly shaken, he just fires an almost instinctive shot- Hitting whatever first runs into his line of sight, that happens to be Serenity [Assault Rifle]JayM rolled 1d100 and got 72 ( Total: 72 ) for 80
Amal: "…I'm sorry about that, Serenity. I had to take a shortcut." They sound… genuinely apologetic and pretty sad about it, for what it's worth.JayM rolled 1d12+105,80 and got 9 ( Total: 91.2 )
JayM: Dealing [91] to her!
Serenity: "Huh? Ow."
JayM: … By now you've seen enough of those Climbers. They are [Musketeer]s, you've fought those beforeAmal glances at Serenity out of the corner of their eye, laughs a little. "No."Climber Green picks up his sole grenade and pulls the pin, tossing it near the party [Dual Purpose Bomb]
[OOC] Amal: Errrfuck that was supposed to be HarrietThe Crescendo resteadies itself and starts charging it's [Ragnafire Spitter] again, and has enough time to fire it off at Anton!JayM rolled 1d8+100 and got 6 ( Total: 106 )
Harriet: "That is so not an answer to that question but okay. 'They' it is."
JayM: Dealing [106] magical fire damage!
JayM: Battle order: Anton [B]:0 Amal [B]:13 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:14 Harriet [B]:15 Serenity [B]:27 Sniper Beam:37 Climber Green [F]:43 Climber Purple [F]:50
JayM: Status for Climber Green [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Status for Climber Purple [F]: : [= ]
JayM: Status for Climber Tank Crescendo [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Anton!
Tank Driver: "Get a hold of yourselves!" his voice is exasperated "Regias get ready to retreat, you can't die out there"Anton seems barely singed from the attack. With a snap of his fingers another set of clones fill the front row. [Shadow Army - 70D | 20/30/40]
[OOC] Anton: HP:[594[[/span]/600, MP: 430/550, LP: 2/7, SoS: 150
JayM: Well, then, Amal!Amal starts charging, light passing between their hands. [CT10]The Crescendo continues to charge up it's [Ragnafire Spitter]!
JayM: Battle order: Harriet [B]:0 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:4 S-Anton A [F]:5 Amal [B]:8 Serenity [B]:12 S-Anton B [F]:15 Sniper Beam:22 S-Anton C [F]:25 Climber Green [F]:28 Climber Purple [F]:35 Anton [B]:55
JayM: Harriet!Harriet flicks a switch and spins up her ECC again. [Thunder - 15CT]The Crescendo fires another stream of blue fire at Anton! "Break the front line!"JayM rolled 1d8+100 and got 2 ( Total: 102 )
JayM: Dealing [102] magical fire damage!Anton doesn't seem very happy. "I'm in the back, though!"Two more barrells extend out of opening the flamethrower comes from "Watch it you two!" [Giga Load - Next attack is T: Group "Serenity‘ frowns.
JayM: Battle order: S-Anton A [F]:0 Amal [B]:3 Serenity [B]:7 Harriet [B]:10 S-Anton B [F]:10 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:14 Sniper Beam:17 S-Anton C [F]:20 Climber Green [F]:23 Climber Purple [F]:30 Anton [B]:50
JayM: Status for Climber Green [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Status for Climber Purple [F]: : [= ]
JayM: Status for Climber Tank Crescendo [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Anton’s first shadow!It fires a crossbow bolt at Climber Purple.Anton rolled 1d100 and got 9 ( Total: 9 ) for 80Anton rolled d10*2+90*2 and got 7 ( Total: 194.0 ) for -1 LPThe bolt strikes him right into the gut, sending him reeling back against the tank "Dammit, Regias get in here!" the top hatch of the tank opens up as the man climbs in [KO]
JayM: Amal!Amal throws the net of light at Climber Green! [Chorus D25]Amal rolled d12+99 and got 1 ( Total: 100 ) for +20% to the next hit (4)
JayM: A good hit
JayM: Serenity!
[OOC] Serenity: inits again?
JayM: Battle order: Serenity [B]:0 Harriet [B]:3 S-Anton B [F]:3 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:7 Sniper Beam:10 S-Anton C [F]:13 Climber Green [F]:16 Amal [B]:21 Climber Purple [F]:23 Anton [B]:43
JayM: Here
JayM: Battle order: Serenity [B]:0 Harriet [B]:3 S-Anton B [F]:3 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:7 Sniper Beam:10 S-Anton C [F]:13 Climber Green [F]:16 Amal [B]:21 Anton [B]:43
JayM: Ahem
JayM: Minus on dead monsterSerenity‘ considers her options, then finds some cover. [Defend - 30D]
JayM: Intersting. Harriet, it fires!Harriet aims the cannon at Green, and zaps! [Thunder, 35D]Harriet rolled 1d12+180 and got 11 ( Total: 191.0 )
JayM: Anton’s second shadow!Anton rolled 1d100 and got 51 ( Total: 51 ) for 80
[OOC] Amal: I think harriet eats the +20%Anton rolled d12+90 and got 8 ( Total: 98.0 ) for At Green
[OOC] Serenity: yes
JayM: She does, uhn, a second
Math: (191*1.2) = 229.2
Math: (191*0.2) = 38.2
JayM: There damaged adjustedThe Crescendo once again starts charging it's [Ragnafire Spitter]!
JayM: Battle order: Sniper Beam:0 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:2 S-Anton C [F]:3 Climber Green [F]:6 Amal [B]:11 Serenity [B]:20 Harriet [B]:28 Anton [B]:33
JayM: Sniper… Beeeeeam!There's a sharp whistle as a tiny mote of light near Green explode and send an enormous beam of energy through his force gear.Serenity‘ rolled d100 and got 93 ( Total: 93 ) for light damaged12+360: 6 [Total: 366]
[OOC] Sugarlips: Grand Total: 459Green is struck with sufficient force he is thrown off the side of the arena! He falls a good way before he picks up with his flight gear- It lasts long enough for him to get back up on top of the tank where he passes out. Purple actually opens the hatch and drags his friend in [KO]Meanwhile, the Crescendo fires a sea of flames in the party!
Serenity: "Tch."JayM rolled 1d8+100 and got 5 ( Total: 105 )
JayM: Dealing [105] Magical Fire damage to everyone!
[OOC] Anton: HP:[467[[/span]/600, MP: 430/550, LP: 1/7, SoS: 150Anton hops in front of his shadow! [GA :D]
[OOC] Amal: HP:[259[[/span]/550, MP: 510/550, LP: 5/9, SoS: 137
JayM: Battle order: Amal [B]:0 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:6 Serenity [B]:9 Harriet [B]:17 Anton [B]:22
JayM: Status for Climber Tank Crescendo [F]: : [==========]
JayM: Well, isn’t that something. Then the shadow gets to attackAnton rolled 1d100 and got 56 ( Total: 56 ) for 80Anton rolled d12+90 and got 5 ( Total: 95.0 )Anton shimmers as his last shadow fades. [+210 THP]
[OOC] Anton: [THP: 210] HP:[467[[/span]/600, MP: 430/550, LP: 1/7, SoS: 150
JayM: What is this guy doing?! Getting swole apparently
JayM: Amal!Amal starts… charging two motes of healing light, just to be safe. [CT 20]The Crescendo continues to charge up it's [Ragnafire Spitter]!
JayM: Battle order: Serenity [B]:0 Climber Tank Crescendo [F]:2 Harriet [B]:8 Amal [B]:11 Anton [B]:13
JayM: Serenity!
JayM: Man, is the tank loud or what, you'd think from the main cannon fire it's still your ears ringing but the rumbling noise is still there
Amal: "…what's it doing?"Serenity‘ sits back up, swinging her rifle back around towards the tank and pulling the trigger. [50D] [Inertia Canceller in 60D]Anton shrugs before glancing at Harriet.
Serenity: "Being irritating? It’s even worse than the water pump."The Crescendo answers shoots some more fire at Anton to answer the question of the healer
Harriet: "Uhh…" Harriet thinks. "It might be the engine kicking up?"JayM rolled 1d8+100 and got 7 ( Total: 107 )
Serenity: "Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, FIRE, pull, FIRE, PUSH, FIRE, pull, pull pull, pull." She's mostly mumbling to herself.Anton scratches at his head as the flames seem to arc around his barrier. "Thanks. I was getting a bit cold up here!"The flamethrower then aims directly at Anton, again [Alignment]Anton has Directed Hit(2)
JayM: Harriet?!
Anton: "Ah, geeze. I may need a top off for this one."
[OOC] Anton: [THP: 143] HP:[467[[/span]/600, MP: 430/550, LP: 1/7, SoS: 150 - Directed Hit (2)Amal nods!
Harriet: "No, wait - that noise isn't coming from the tank at all!" Harriet begins charging her cannon again. [Thunder, 15D]
JayM: Amal!
Serenity: "Huh?"
JayM: Now that she mentions it
JayM: The noise is more all-prevalent than coming form the tankAnton … looks up.Amal sends one of those motes of light to Anton and absorbs the other one themself! [Double Cure D35]Amal rolled d10+150 and got 6 ( Total: 156 )
[OOC] Anton: [THP: 143] HP:[600[[/span]/600, MP: 430/550, LP: 1/7, SoS: 150 - Directed Hit (2)Anton looks up, and sees a man in a strange dress, shirt red-and-black stripes, silver-colored hair and holding a large crossbow, the sort of crossbow that is about his size and most definitely an arbalest. He's grinning "Here I was hoping for an amazing entrance"
JayM: Let's change the theme: https://youtu.be/ggUmboz_kiE <- Theme of the Silver-haired StrangerThe sound definitely comes from aboveSerenity‘ sighs.
Silver Hair: "Good to see you all again" he looks at the tank "We’re retreating, we have what we wanted"
Anton: "I admittedly found it odd that you hadn't shown up yet."
Anton: "Especially after you interefered the last two times."
Serenity: "Anton I don't have enough time *or* patienence to deal with your Evil Twin right now, tell him to go away."Amal raises an eyebrow.He looks down at the party "I hope you don't mind just letting us go? You cannot honestly hope to be victorious with me involved"
Silver Hair: "All I want is return the data gathered here today, though. That involves the tank and it's pilots"
Silver Hair: "Well, I also like to make grand entrances, comes with the skillset you know. I was waiting for the right time"
Silver Hair: "But I guess Carrie wasn't just making a wild guess at you all"
Serenity: "Whatever, don't really care. Go."
Serenity: "Now."He grins… And you see the source of the noise… Coming down like a river of rock and stone…
Amal: "I know you were here to gather data on -us-, you can drop the silly act." They scrunch up their face and squint, but aren't really going to complain as long as the attackers stop attacking.The silver-haired man jumps ahead- The rock avalanche just following in his wake- It is going to swallow everything in the battlefield
Serenity: "Not sure I really have the energy to be doing this right now…"He lands on top of the tank- The first and larger rocks crash right past the party and into the slab you're all in- It crack sending everyone upwards, the tank slides downAnton slides to the side grabbing Amal from under the arms and going into the air.Harriet jumps from foothold to foothold, not thinking about it, just doing it.
Amal: "-get the others!-"Serenity‘ watches Anton rocket off with Amal out of the corner of her eyes, groans a little bit and moves in front of Harriet while pointing her rifle up.Amal winks out of existence.
Serenity: "Don’t bother -"
Harriet: "What?" Harriet stops, giving Serenity a weird look but at least listening to her.Serenity‘ squeezes her eyes shut as her force drive kicks into overdrive, and a blinding silver light burst into existance within the center of the avalanches directly in front of her. There’s a weird sound in the air, before all the rubbled beging flying backwards and compressing in upon itself as the implosion goes off. [Ars Prima]Anton groans wishing Amal had communicated that earlier. He swoops down to get Harriet instead. That rubble repelling off Serenity looked a bit dangerous. "Up you go!"Anton fails to catch Amal and goes upwards to avoid it- And it is for the best, had he had any more weight he wouldn't have gained height fast enough to dodge the wave of rockMoving Serenity out of the wave of stone allows her to focus all her power on shielding Harriet arther than both, the compressed stone forming a wall that slopes upwards, sending the entire avalance flying off-course from Harriet
[OOC] Anton: Hmm ok
JayM: All in all… If a single one of you had to take any different action, you're certain at least one of you would have wound up buriedSoon the avalance passes, you might be shaken… But you're alive
Serenity: "Nnngghh."
Harriet: "Everyone alive?" Harriet calls out, after a moment to find her breath again.
Serenity: "Fuck that stupid evil mustache twrilling oracle, doing that gives me a massive headache."Serenity‘ slumps down, rubbing at her temples.
Harriet: "So… who the fuck was that guy, anyway?"
Serenity: "The guy making Cor give us shitty instructions."Anton slowly floats down landing on top of a rock. He scrunches up his face. "That’s Al. He's kind of a jerk and has been screwing things up for us since this whole thing started."Serenity‘ shakes her head slightly, forming an OK sign with her hand and pointing it off in the distance of the mountains. Not that there’s anyone over there.
Anton: "When I went to catch that jaeger in the sewers that was going to fall down the waterfall he had a bunch of time cards lined up to blast me out of the air. He also was present for the whole bombing the city thing."
Serenity: "Well."
Harriet: "Wait, that was that guy?"
Serenity: "I hope he enjoys that corroading time mote I left in the tank before he fly off with it."
Serenity: "Dickwad."
Harriet: "I guess if I can't have it, the next best thing is wrecking it."
Harriet: "… wait, where's Amal?!"Anton takes a deep breath before shouting out a loud echo from the top of the mountain. "Amal?"
Serenity: "…Duno. Anton had him?"
Anton: "Had being the key word. He kind of popped out of existance when I tried to lift him up."
Harriet: "Shit, I hope he's- uh, they're okay."There's a bright light, pulsing in the air, prisming out into a vertical line, which warps and twists into a crack in reality, pried apart by someone's hands, a rainbow kaleidoscope briefly blindingly visible. Amal slips through sideways before it snaps shut and disappears in a spray of flower petals.
Amal: "Okay,"
Amal: "Fuck that guy."Anton scratches at his cheek. "Ah, geeze. I hope they can remake hi-. Ah, there you are!"
Harriet: "Hey, Amal, are you okay?"
Serenity: "So you seriously don't realize you're some kind of extra dimensional fucking horror fomr beyond time/space and or a demon?"
Serenity: "Because,"
Amal: "Yeah. Are all of you!?" They do a quick headcount, the sort of going-back-for-your-keys-the-third-time thing you do sometimes.
Serenity: "And I say this as someone that can spontaniously create black holes and communicate with ragnite,"
Serenity: "That shit ain't normal Amal."Amal actually grins. "Let's go with 'demon', shall we? It has a nice ring to it."
Amal: "Sorry, Anton. It was 'be a hero' or 'don't die' and I went for the latter. I like you alive. Anyways, I'm sure you'll get the chance, you save people, it's what you do." They grin, and it's less creepy this time.
Anton: "From the intel we've managed to gather so far though, it seems like Al is working with the Akavir(?) soldiers. So he was at the forefront of that incident that brought you all here and poked his nose into things over the next week on top of that."
Anton: "He's not from their country so…"
Serenity: "You'd think there'd be some kind of system in place to lock down or, uh, eliminate oracles that are about to go rogue."
Harriet: "Yeah, what a pain in the ass."Anton scratches at his head before awkwardly laughing. "Come on now Serenity, are you seriously suggesting the church should have a heretic hunting squad?"Serenity‘ hand wobbles.
Harriet: "I mean, I’m pretty sure the heretic hunting squad is us."
Amal: "In the interests of full disclosure I think he was responsible for me being invited into the Fatebreakers. To… make sure that we'd die in that incident. Which obviously didn't happen, meaning we are better at mystical bullshit than he is."
Amal: "Us one, mysterious asshole zero."
Harriet: "I hate mystical bullshit."
Serenity: "Why would you being here have ment we died…?"
Anton: "All said and done though, if an oracle goes rogue someone screwed up badly in the selection process since… if they were to change history that much they wouldn't be selected?"
Serenity: "And yet, here we are."
Anton: "I for one, blame that old geezer before Cor. It's all his fault." He smiles.
Anton: "Cor wasn't the Divine Oracle back then. Al and her went to school together after all."
Amal: "Anton, double-check me on this, but. Anton's carrying me, Anton doesn't make it past the rock. Anton doesn't make it, Serenity doesn't get pushed out of the way. Serenity doesn't get pushed out of the way to raise the barrier, rocks fall everybody dies."Anton shakes his head. "Serenity wouldn't have died."
Serenity: "Well, I mean… if you weren't here in the first place, you being able to dissapear doesn't seem super relevant…?"
Anton: "Plus, we've already deviated from the assumed worldline even without you disappearing. Hughbert was supposed to be with us."
Anton: "I don't think Al saw that one coming either."
Amal: "It's- there isn't really a 'first place'- either way, this is why they call us the Fatebreakers, right?"Serenity‘ scratches at her head, pauses, undoes the hair bun, then scratches at the back of her head less awkwardly.
Serenity: "So more pressing question:"
Serenity: "How the fuck are we getting down?"
Amal: "…that’s a great question."Anton scratches at his head. "I was just planning to fly."
JayM: You would think
JayM: Someone with amazing planning skills would have planned for that
JayM: At this time there's a whistle, and very high above you can barely see but two bits of purple glow
Serenity: "Unless you turned into a blimp when I wasn't looking I think we're a bit over the weight allowance…"
JayM: They're so far up you can't even make out their shapes but the glow of their force gear
Serenity: "…also fine."Lilac and Violet teleport back here, Violet's absolutely beside herself "You all! I'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm so sorry!"
Serenity: "For…?"
Harriet: "Ugh I am so ready to get back to society guys, let's do this."
Violet: "I tried to get back here but, but-"
Lilac: "The guy in silver hair must have had a spatial stabilizer force gear"
Lilac: "It prevents usage of the teleport gear"
Harriet: "Rude."
Serenity: "S'fine."Lilac puts a hand on her distraught sister's shoulder "C'mon, let's get you back down"
Lilac: "And get a nice ride home, none of that high speed nonsense"Serenity‘ slowly stands back up.Harriet makes her way over to Violet and Lilac. "A nice ride home sounds good."Anton makes his way over to Amal before ruffling his hair. "Thanks for taking that shell for me though~."A way back home… Those two girls take you back, and the cable car ride back is smooth at normal speed… Man aren’t you tired
JayM: Yet… You should probably report backAmal grins a little. "And, hey. Thanks for trying to rescue me. It's… the thought that counts, right~?"The cable car finally stops at the station in the city center…Serenity‘ probably slepts on the cable car, if we’re being honest.
JayM: Are you even going to report back?Anton is running on the power of ADRENALINE. He's writing up a report on the ride back.Serenity‘ gets up as they stop though, yawns. "Okay I’m going home, you deal with grandma." She gives a brief look to Anton, before heading off into the street.
Anton: "Sleep well~."Harriet naps leaning on Serenity, because, ugh. Once they're done she straightens up. "Yeah, I'm out too. That was way too much nature for one lifetime."Amal is laughing quietly to themself over something and looks up and grins at Anton on the ride back.Anton glances up from his report before flashing Amal a smile.Serenity‘ comes to a dead stop about two blocks away from the cable car stop, suddenly wide awake. Spins around and briskly walks towards Anton.Anton seems to be on his way to the church but he’s taking his time since he's still writing.
Serenity: "Hey uh."
Serenity: "You said you were familiar with that evil oracle right?"
Anton: "Al? If you have questions about him, Cor would probably be the better one to ask. I only know a bit more than you at this point."Serenity‘ jogs a bit to catch up after speaking up.
Serenity: "Hrm."
Serenity: "Okay, I guess. I just realized something was really off about that whole things."Serenity` shoves her hands in her pockets and *does* wind up going back to the church then, since now that she’s thought about it it's going to keep bugging her.
Anton: "I was too young to really remember much when he was at the church. He was around a lot five or so years ago but as soon as Cor became the Divine Oracle he vanished. I think he was mad?"
Serenity: "What, thought he was more worthy than her or something?"Amal is tagging along, too, sort of listening. "What's 'Al' short for, do you know?"
Anton: "That's purely my opinion of course. I barely knew the guy."
Serenity: "Mm."
Anton: "But I mean as someone who personally is going to be the Divine Oracle one day… I'd be upset!"Back in the church, back to the meeting room, whoever of you are going there. You will find that Pope Aldiva remains with the books and notes and her coffee still smells strong. You do in fact come in just in time to see her wince upon taking a sip. You see Cor Caroli pacing in the room, holding what appears to be a… Length of chain in her hand? The stick in her mouth frantically going from side to side
Serenity: "…Isn't Al usually just Al? Although I guess it could be Alfred or…?"
Anton: "We're back, Cor~." He tosses a report on her desk. "These two seem to want to ask you some questions. I hope you had some caffeine!"She looks at Anton, she's shaking. She takes a deep breath and reassumes a far calmer demeanor, still holding the chain "Certainly"The way she plays with the lollipop in her mouth, however, makes it obvious she's fidgeting
Anton: "Aw, c'mon Cor. You shouldn't be so worried about a future where everyone but Serenity died. Hughbert wasn't even here this time it was literally impossible for it to play out in exactly that fashion."
Serenity: "Wait everyone but me was supposed to die?"She closes her eyes for a moment "It's… No, it would… The world threads were wound so tightly at your deaths…"
Anton: "But… we didn't!"
Cor Caroli: "Yet it was so far from being possible, it was a statistical implausibility"Amal just smiles.
Cor Caroli: "Yet there is where fate went"
Serenity: "Are you sure you're supposed to be the hero and not me…?" Her tone to Anton is hard to read.
Cor Caroli: "I've… Been outplayed… Badly"The light sound of a pen being put on the desk
Amal: "I don't think that's true~!"Anton slams a fist into his hand. "Come, now. What, truly is there for us to be concerned over? We have built this dream together, to stand strong forever! Nothing is going to stop us now~!. I'm going to be the Divine Oracle, not the hero. Key difference!"Anton clearly has no shame saying that stuff in front of the Pope.
Serenity: "Uh-huh."Amal smiles again. "I'll remind you that you named us the Fatebreakers."Cor sighs and shakes her head "And I pity whoever is the pope when you do so" she seems… Genuinely calmer now, thoughShe looks at Serenity and Amal "But you had something to ask, right?"
Serenity: "Demon's first."
Anton: "How were you outplayed exactly? Based on the pattern we observed from May 1st to May 15th Al showed up consistently. Weren't you planning for him?"Serenity‘ slide the rifle off her shoulder and plops herself down into a chair.
Anton: "To be honest I was worried when he wasn’t showing up during the Divine Aegis climb."
Amal: "Al… it's Aldebaran, I bet- he was responsible somehow for me being part of the Fatebreakers, wasn't he? And if so… can they trust me? I think they can, and I'm pretty confident in that. But maybe that's a blind spot."
Amal: "Maybe somehow I'm part of his plan. And that's pretty scary, to me."Amal looks like they weren't even really planning on asctually asking any of that, but here we are.Cor Caroli looks at Amal "Al… As in… Alcor… Alcor the Divine Oracle, my predecessor, my friend, and in many aspects my better…" she closes her eyes "I noticed the invitation you recieved was signed in his specific manner, I don't like using typography in my invitations I prefer them handwritten"
Cor Caroli: "Even now I know he works for the good of Masharas… On that faith I accepted you, I know you being here will be good in the long term…"
Serenity: "Uh."
Cor Caroli: "But just because an oracle has the long game down pat doesn't means they will not be an absolute fuckup on the way there"Serenity‘ shoots Cor a look like she’s a fucking idiot.
Serenity: "You realize he was helping them set up kill canons pointed right at the heart of the city, right?"
JayM: She clamps down on her lollipop so hard it shatters, the sound somehow echoing aroundAnton reaches into the bucket and hands her a lollipop.
Cor Caroli: "The Bloodworks, yes… What in the goddess' name is he doing?"
Serenity: "Having a hard time imagining that being for the good of the city."Amal opens their mouth to go 'ha, that sure is obvious in retrospect' but shuts it again out of deference to the Oracle and/or because they don't trust themselves not to go 'wow that sure is dumb, Cor Caroli'. One of those two.
Serenity: "Also he's kind of a dick?"
Anton: "Don't forget he actually killed us on a few world lines."She looks at Anton, sighs, takes it and sits down "So am I, Sereinity"
Cor Caroli: "But he has always been… Far, far better than me in seeing the future"
Cor Caroli: "He's… I'd say he's the best oracle in that regard to ever have been"
Amal: "Out of curiosity what would have to be true in order for destroying the Bloodworks to secretly be an extremely good idea?"
Serenity: "I can think of a LOT of reasons for it being good for the continent,"
Cor Caroli: "Hrm… If that was the price to be paid in exchange for something of pivotal importance"
Serenity: "But not us, specifically."
Amal: "'The good of the continent'. Tell me more."
Amal: "There's something I don't know about Ragnite, and you do."Anton takes a lollipop before sighing. "Serious conversation… My arch-nemesis." He pops it into his mouth.
Serenity: "Uhh…"
Serenity: "Well I mean we're kind of the technological power house of the four major countries here, and we've kinda been forced to heavily invest in weapon's R&D…"
Serenity: "So I mean you can imagine how that might go bad for Everyone Else."
Serenity: "Like, you've seen what Harriet's little force gear can do, right? That's still an early prototype."
Amal: "Ragnite isn't secretly the blood of the world and we're slowly draining it dry, or anything like that, right?"The pope chuckles at Serenity's wordsAmal goes dead silent suddenly and gets a little clammy.Serenity‘ leans her head back, looking up at the ceiling. "I duno are we secretly killing you with super cool force gears?"
Serenity: "She shrugs in her least interested way possible by ignoring the question, just, fyi."Amal relaxes, then, wiping their face with a dainty handkerchief, taking a breath. "What -would- happen if all the Ragnite in the bloodworks were to ignite?"
Serenity: "Death tolls in the thousands."
Pope Aldiva: "Saddens me we’re so invested in weaponry technology at the moment. It would be much easier on me if we could reduce that to just twelve percent of our time investment" she goes back to writingAmal sits up in their chair. "-actually. Anton. Cor Caroli. Does anything weird happen to your oracular vision in the presence of ignited ragnite?"Anton glances at Amal and then Cor. He considers taking the lollipop out of his mouth but ends up just shaking his head.
Cor Caroli: "Not at all. Ragnite fire is fire nontheless"
Amal: "Hm." They go back to slouching.
Serenity: "Though like."
Serenity: "Lets use that as a segue -"
Serenity: "Dude is like me, isn't he?"Cor Caroli sighs "Yes, he is. Easily far more powerful"
Serenity: "That would have been nice to know *before* he asked the mountain to roll over on us like it was a puppy dog and it listened."
Cor Caroli: "Not actually a combatant by any means, but he is… Helped develop force gear to aid in my foresight ability because of that… Thence a place I underestimated him"
Amal: "Not actually a combatant." Amal does huge air quotes.
Cor Caroli: "He'd mess with me often, but he never did anything harmful… Thought it'd extend towards you as well. Won't make that mistake again"
Serenity: "To be fair he didn't really do much other than ask the mountain very nicely to do something."
Cor Caroli: "In as much as he lacks combat training, or did last I saw him"
Serenity: "It just kinda… listened."Anton scratches at his head. "He kind of did it within a minute of him showing up to be fair. Results also tend to not skew in our favor if we talk about the future."
Amal: "Information warfare's a fun game for everyone."
Cor Caroli: "It's a headache, it's what it is"
Serenity: "Also he had a uh,"
Serenity: "Really."
Serenity: "Really souped up fucking - force gear arbalasta - thing."
Cor Caroli: "A… What? Now that's new, he must have picked that up while away"
Serenity: "It was pretty ridiculous and probably custom made? What is with you people and archaic weapons."
Anton: "I'd be packing one of those too if I was in bed with Akavir, just saying."
Cor Caroli: "Then again he was always fond of showing off, he'd dress weird and dye his hair just to look unnatural"
Anton: "You can't find that sort of thing in Masharis."Serenity‘ looks at Anton.
Cor Caroli: "A little bit of tradition sticks, I guess"
Serenity: "Because bows are obsolete! You realize guns exist, right?"
Serenity: "Look at how cool my gear is." She gestures towards her rifle/force gear.Anton brushes his bangs to the side before beaming with a smile. "I’m afraid that I was so in awe of your marksmanship that I decided I simply couldn't compete, my dear~."Serenity‘ shakes her head.
Serenity: "Anyway,"
Serenity: "Why does he hate you so much? Bad break up or somethin’?"
Cor Caroli: "Hardly, there I got no idea… One day he just…"
Cor Caroli: "Comes up to me, goes " Hey, can you take up the job? Thanks " and fucking vanishes…"Amal whistles.
Cor Caroli: "He didn't explain, he was just… Nonchalant about it, just left. If I wasn't right in his heels for succession we'd have been left without a Divine Oracle for at least a couple of years the way he left"
Amal: "You did say leaking information damages the chances of being able to act on that information."
Amal: "…he must be pretty lonely."
Cor Caroli: "Dangers of the job…"
Cor Caroli: "I wish I knew what he's planning. Two minds always think better than one"Serenity‘ scrunches up her face and gives Amal a weird look.Amal looks really sad!Cor sighs, at this point you realize the Pope has stood up. She walks up behind Cor Caroli and stand there for a moment. She leans down and kisses her in the forehead "The tragic sad one here is me, you know" she looks at Serenity and Amal "Next we meet… I have things I need to to tell"
Cor Caroli: "Your holiness? Didn’t we decide we weren't-"
Serenity: "Ah yes lets put off more useful information until later, again."
Pope Aldiva: "If anything I learned that around you I must trust my heart, it's time they know"
Pope Aldiva: "Plus… I can't see the future, but I feel this might be why Alcor decided to follow his lone path"
Pope Aldiva: "… I would rather you all be here to hear it, it would make it easier to explain"Amal looks like they're about to go into a dissertation about how sad Alcor must be - you could even say anguished - but then SUDDENLY, INTERPERSONAL DRAMA and it doesn't seem like the time.Serenity‘ shrugs.
Pope Aldiva: "But we now stand at the knife’s edge of a great apocalypse"
Pope Aldiva: "Or no, no that was years ago… Now… It's the aftermath, worse than anyone could expect"Amal opens their mouth, pauses, shuts their mouth.
Pope Aldiva: "Everyone, rest, let's come back with a fresh mind that we may think straight"
JayM: And with that, I am going to end this here for today because it's half past midnight and i'm hot like a person with a flu
[OOC] JayM: +13 XP